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Title

File 026

Transcript

How would you define:
"LIBERAL"
and
"CONSERVATIVE"?
These convenient labels—two of the most-used terms in the political vernacular—may not always mean the same thing to speaker and listener. Compare
your definitions with those offered by four well-informed Americans in an
unrehearsed panel debate an ANSWERS FOR AMERICANS:
and in people lhat a conservative e
primarily interested in property and ii'
government.
Mu. Buckley: In modern-da) ternU
a liberal is primarily a man who is infatuated with the state. He turns to the
slat,' lo settle all of lln- problems tha1
libertarians or conservatives would prefer for man to settle' for himself.
The best definition of a liberal.
though it's a facetious one. I heard
from someone' al 'laic University "I"1
said that lilnrals are basically showel
adjusters lhe people who want ll1
reach their great big brawny hand |M
when you're taking a shoue-r and say
"No, jusl a little bit colder." or "a lid1''
hit hotter." They can't leave human 1""
ings alone.
Basically lhe conservative also look*
Introducing the panel
Miss Vivien Kellems, Independent gubernatorial candidate in Connecticut and authority
on taxation, featured guest, in discussion with regular panelists:
George Hamilton Combs, network news commentator and former congressman,
William Buckley, Jr., author and magazine editor,
Professor Charles Hodges of New York University, former foreign correspondent.
MISS KELLEMS:
A Liberal is not a twentieth-century creation.
MR. COMBS:
A Conservative is a romantic seeking to recapture the past.
MR. BUCKLEY:
A Liberal is infatuated with the state.
PROF. HODGES:
A Conservative's had enough and wants to keep it.
for liberty above security, whereas i'"
liberal, who has totalitarian u-ndi'"'"
unfortunately, looks above all for set'"'
ity. And when one' or lhe' eelhcr 11111-1 f"
he w ill senze' security.
Prop. Hodces: Well. I would s»]
thai a conservative is one who's ''-j,
enough and wants In keep it. 1 »'"
emphasize the idea of stability, Ih' '"'
custodian of institutions, and I lei-h1'1'
lhal lhe principles upon which progff*
depends require a certain stability,
I'd also define ei liberal as a man s
ting in the draft of his open mind. *s
possible working definition a rati0
edizing idealist, a man who thinks I"
Utopia is around lhe corner. And I j
think lhal he's been trapped anil suck1'.'
in the' direction of sialism. Possibly,
a necessity hut the' essential elistin''".".
seems to be lei clear lln- iceulioii'11"
out on the righl. pul them in their '"
tier, and don't confuse them with
servatives.
\111l I ellsee weuil lo In- fair will' •■
lln1
MR. BURT: What is your definition of the
difference between a liberal and a conservative?
Miss Ki.ii.kms: Mr. Hurl. I ihink il
ilc|ee'iids entirely upon lhe period of
linn' in which you're speaking because,
unfortunately, tin- terms have been completely switched. In the early days of
our countrv I think a liberal weis a man
like George Washington, for example;
and today In- is ultraconservative.
Mu. Combs: Ii never occurred to me
Page 24
lhal George Washington wa- exactly a
flaming liberal. If Miss Kellems had
-aid I hornets Jefferson or Tom Paine,
perhaps I could have gone along wilh il.
However, it seems to me thai a liberal
is el rcelhst who is see-king solutions of
today's ami tomorrow's problems in the
realm of iele-eis. ami that a conservative
i- a romantic wine is seeking to recapture the past, (ioiiig a little further than
that. I would s;i\ thai a liberal is primarily interested in human freedom
Voic April I'oll Question, I'uge 65
ll"
ei wani lo lie lent' wn"
liberals and sen that they have '""j
hothead connections with lhe left *«
lhat the liberal fringe of raelie alisrn '""
essential lo a liberal position. ,.
Mr. Combs: \s ee liberal anil ' „
gard myself as a liberal I r,"l"", 1*,,,'
lln- extremism of the lefl just as 1 "']\t
lhe I to mv mind 1 intolerance "' .
right, and I believe thai a liberal '"jl
scnlially a man who has adapted hi'"jt,,
lo the' twentieth century, has manage j
climb mil of Mark Hanna's buggy- ^
longer regards laiBsez feiire as -in
FACTS FORUM N'KWS. April, '
% YES
86 .k
05 I
61 I
75 I
19 «
7 1
76 (